


ficlets

by crystalcities



Series: Wout + Mathieu [2]
Category: Cycling RPF
Genre: Crying, Domestic Fluff, Ficlet Collection, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Rivalry, Summer Romance, Vignette, bike racing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-01-05 07:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18361601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalcities/pseuds/crystalcities
Summary: Set at various times. See series page for dates





	1. Waaslandcross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6 February 2016: Wout wins Worlds, and then another race.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in 2016 some time after CX Worlds at Zolder, known (to me) as the race where Mathieu and Wout got [a bit tangled together](https://youtu.be/Emy136hqYzo). Mathieu couldn't come back from that but Wout kept it together and won the race. Since then Wout won two more WC's, and Mathieu started winning everything except the WC, until this year... I'm so happy for him :cries:
> 
> Anyways, this fic takes place at the next race weekend after Zolder, Waaslandcross on Saturday and Hoogstraten on Sunday. I must have thought at the time Wout won Waaslandcross, but I just checked and they didn’t even start??? Lol... I must have been completely confused. I'm going to post this anyways, and good luck to the both of them at De Ronde this Sunday <3

Wout excused himself after the podium and interviews and went over to the BKCP bus. A mechanic was washing bikes outside but otherwise it seemed quiet. David was exiting the bus when Wout approached.

"Looking for Mathieu?" He asked and gave Wout a somewhat suspicious look. He probably knew, Wout thought.

"Yeah, is he here?" Wout asked. David nodded and went on his way.

"Hello," Wout walked on the bus. It seemed empty. The curtain was drawn towards the back.

"Hey, Mathieu?" He pushed the curtain aside a crack and saw Mathieu sitting curled up with his head between his knees. He hadn't changed from his dusty skin suit. Mathieu looked up for a moment before putting his head down again.

Wout sat next to him for a minute. Mathieu was still motionless. Wout sighed, and slid an arm around Mathieu. Mathieu shifted in a somewhat painful way and let himself lean close to Wout. Wout kissed his hair and pulled Mathieu close, and listened to Mathieu trying to keep his breathing steady. He had no idea what was going on but something was surely wrong because that was not the Mathieu he raced with for years. Yes, he didn't have a good day at Zolder but he was never somebody to let it affect him like that. Not that he knew anything, though, since they hadn't seen or talked to each other until today. Regardless of the result it was a bit too awkward.

Wout kissed his hair again and pressed a few more kisses on his forehead and cheeks. Mathieu raised his blue eyes, maybe a bit wet, to meet his.

"Is it OK?" Wout asked, and waited for a faint nod before kissing Mathieu's lips softly. Mathieu grabbed a handful of Wout’s sweatshirt. They kissed for a few minutes, deep and wet but slow and tender, before breaking apart. They hadn’t kissed like that before. A couple tears had fallen on Mathieu's cheeks and Wout gently wiped them away, which only invited more tears.

"I'm not crying because of the race, you know that," Mathieu whispered. He let go of Wout's sweatshirt and pressed himself against Wout instead.

"Yeah, I know," Wout replied, and just let Mathieu cry in his arms for a while. Wout felt a bit light-headed. All kinds of feelings were coming to the surface for him, and he's sure for Mathieu too, and he was a little bit afraid to think about what some of them meant.

"Go take a shower and change," Wout said when Mathieu collected himself. "I can't believe you were sitting in your skin suit for so long."

"Yeah, okay," Mathieu said, wiping away the last of the tears and extricating himself from Wout. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were just a bit red from crying. He looked even younger than usual. Another rush of those heady feelings hit Wout and he had to stop himself from taking Mathieu in his arms again and kissing him senseless. Again Mathieu moved somewhat painfully to collect a change of clothes and disappeared behind the curtain.

Wout sighed and stared at the curtain. They might have gotten themselves in a sticky situation. He could hear people getting on the bus and he should probably leave.

"Feel better soon, okay? And I'll see you tomorrow?" Wout asked through the shower door. He made sure to hear Mathieu's reply before leaving, walking somewhat awkwardly past the few BKCP riders who had just gotten on and were looking quizzically at him.


	2. Cyprus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late February 2016: Wout spends his off season hanging out on an island while Mathieu races mountain bikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one I wrote back in 2016, set at the start of Mathieu's mountain bike campaign at the Cyprus Sunshine Cup. I think this was inspired by Mathieu's social media, although I couldn't find it now... I miss the days when his PR was less professional, haha. Congratulations to Mathieu for taking 2nd at Albstadt today <3
> 
> Thanks for reading, again!

"This is the first time I've spent an off season away from home,” Wout said. He shifted to rest his head on Mathieu’s shoulder. Mathieu was taking photos of his bike he'd carefully propped up earlier, with a backdrop of the sun rising above the sea. They had gotten up early and went to the beach to watch the sun rise.

“Don’t you want me in your photo?” Wout smiled and tried to get in front of Mathieu’s phone.

“This is for the sponsors,” Mathieu shoved him aside. A lock of hair fell in front of his eyes. His edges seem lit up in the breaking morning light. Wout reached to push the errant lock aside, and leveraged himself (with Mathieu's cooperation) to sit up and straddle across Mathieu's lap. Mathieu smiled, Wout plucked the phone out of his hand, dropped it in the sand, held his hand instead, and kissed him. Mathieu went easily on his elbows and let Wout lay him down, and tangled their limbs together.

"We are spending time together," Wout pressed their foreheads together and said against Mathieu's lips.

"I know, but," Mathieu replied and pulled him into another kiss.

* * *

Wout was there among the BKCP staff when Mathieu crossed the line in first place. Mathieu was almost falling off his bike when Wout came up with a wide grin, congratulating him with a hug and a kiss. Had this been at Koksijde or Namur or Zonhoven, not that they wouldn’t be racing against each other as their biggest rivals, and giving a heartfelt congratulations to the other on a win would be out of the question, at least not until the disappointment and frustration had passed, shutters would be clicking and they would be bombarded with questions… But this was Cyprus, where the air was salty and warm, the sea was bluer than Mathieu’s eyes, and most people didn't know or care that the cyclocross world champion and the former world champion were apparently lovers. Mathieu laughed and collapsed into Wout’s arms, exhausted.

What a strange alternate world this was, Wout thought. And what a strange role reversal, of a sort. He was never the one in a relationship to be the dedicated supporter. But here he was, spending his off season hanging out at a mountain bike race on an island and being domestic while his rival/lover/whatever he was trained and raced. He came along for the café stops and drove the motorbike sometimes.

A staffer came up to whisk Mathieu away to get cleaned up for interviews and the podium. Mathieu winked at Wout as he left in the fading late afternoon light.

A few more days, and then it's a few more weeks until his road season, and then it's a few more months until they would line up as rivals, Wout thought, and felt a bit wistful.


	3. New Year's Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 31 December 2016: Wout and Mathieu ring in the new year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m stoked about the World Cup and the outspoken players on the USWNT so here’s a little something.
> 
> Edit to add: I posted this and literally one day later Wout wins a stage in the TdF. I’m dying... <3

Somehow Mathieu convinced Wout to ride mountain bikes with him in Spain for the winter break, after the Christmas races. Or as people around Wout knew it, “training camp”. Now they’re waiting for the new year to begin on the balcony, overlooking the plaza where celebrations were ongoing.

“When I win the world championships this season, I’m going to tell the world I love you in the interview,” Mathieu said, out of the blue, looking at Wout fondly.

“You love me?” Wout said. He didn’t mean to sound so surprised.

“Yeah, I do,” Mathieu replied. Wout carded his fingers through Mathieu’s hair.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say...” Wout trailed off.

“Maybe ‘I love you too’?”

Wout looked a bit pained.

“You know we can’t...”

“I know. I’m not actually going to do that. I just want to think there’s a world where it’s possible,” Mathieu cut him off.

Wout stayed silent so Mathieu continued. “On the women’s national team, Vivianne and her teammate from her club are together, and it’s perfectly fine. She’s still called up, her club still wins trophies and she’s one of the most important players for both.”

“It’s different for men’s sports,” Wout said finally.

“Why does it have to be different?”

Wout looked at him with a pained expression. At this time a huge commotion began outside. It’s ten seconds to 2017.

_“Ten, nine, eight, seven-“_

“I still love you, even though you're not good at this,” Mathieu said.

_“-six, five, four, three-“_

"I'm sorry," Wout pulled Mathieu into a hug, and whispered in his ear, “I love you too.”

_“-two, one! Happy new year!”_


	4. Over eten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 22 January 2017: post-Hoogerheide

Wout’s woken up from a nap by somebody ringing his doorbell insistently.

“Coming! One second!”

Mathieu burst in when he opened the door, looking worse for wear and walking right past Wout to the kitchen. He immediately started looking through the fridge and all the cabinets. Wout watched him, puzzled.

“Do you have any bread?”

“Uh, no...”

“Why don’t you have any food?” Mathieu continued to root through drawers.

“We can go out to dinner if you want?”

“I need to eat something now.” Mathieu shut the last drawer he hadn’t looked through.

Wout got a better look at Mathieu now that he’s quit taking his kitchen apart. He’s cleaned up somewhat, the usual level of semi-cleanliness that can be managed on the team bus post-race. By now he’s familiar with Mathieu’s race day routine but he’s looking somewhat worse than usual and he figured something else was up, other than low blood sugar. Generally it’s the soigneur’s job to look after tired riders, not whatever Wout was in this relationship... Regardless, the fact that Mathieu’s here made him feel something warm.

Wout went over to Mathieu and hugged him, kissing his hair softly. Mathieu sighed and held Wout close, closing his eyes when Wout kissed his mouth.

“That’s nice, but I still need to eat something,” Mathieu murmured.

“Why don’t you go take a shower while I make you something.”

* * *

Actually Mathieu decided to take a bath instead. Today’s results were disappointing. He knew he’d put in the work the last few months, that next week was the race that really mattered, and that this wasn’t a big deal, but the fact that he felt like he didn’t have anything to chase Lars was not confidence inspiring. His team should be operating smoothly in advance of Worlds, yet somehow they managed to not have food on the bus today. Sitting in hot water maybe wasn’t the best for recovery according to his trainer but it’s helping him destress. He hated to admit it but being in Wout’s presence also helped.

Wout knocked on the bathroom door.

“Hey, are you decent?”

“No, but you can come in,” Mathieu replied. Wout came in and sat on the edge of the bathtub with a plate. “Ohh, poffertjes. I didn’t know you know how to make this.”

Wout picked up one tiny powdered sugar- covered pancake and fed it to Mathieu, who made a noise of pleasure.

“Anything for you to make that sound again,” Wout smiled, feeding Mathieu another pancake and eating one himself.

“What do you mean,” Mathieu felt himself blush, although maybe his skin was just flushed from the hot water.

“I like to attend to your needs.”

“Shut up and feed me the rest of these. Then maybe you can attend to my other needs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Belgian show (Over eten) did [a segment with Mathieu](https://youtu.be/0z6LAFMvxxY) where they followed him around on race day asking questions about what he’s eating. I relate so much with Mathieu looking desperately for carbs after the race, lol
> 
> The race referenced was Hoogerheide 2017, a week before Worlds at Bieles. Wout did not race, Mathieu had an off day (I forgot he had those sometimes, lol) and finished 24th. It was won by Lars van der Haar, which was probably a shock to him :p
> 
> Umm... I was just in Lenzerheide for the MTB World Cup weekend. Seeing Mathieu in person was unreal and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time... <3


End file.
